It's looking like Matt Shoemaker's going to be the Angels opening day starter, and that's awesome

Last season, for a good stretch of the season, Matt Shoemaker was pretty much impossible to hit. It was honestly one of the more beautiful pitching performance of I've seen in awhile, watching our beloved Shoemaker turn into a Clayton Kershaw clone right before our very eyes.

Sure, the Halos would more often than not fail to back him up on the offensive side of things, which was frustrating to fans, teammates and Shoemaker himself, but his feats did not go unnoticed and 2016 only served to grow the Matt Shoemaker legend tenfold.

Then Seattle happened; the line drive right back to the mound, the skull fracture, every pitcher's (and their family's) worst nightmare. His season, one of the lone bright spots of a pretty dismal '16, was over.

Luckily, that major scare ultimately gave way to a great Spring for Shoemaker, both on the field and off. He's looked better and better with each start, giving plenty of reason to believe he can repeat what he did last year.

On top of that, he not only overcame a gnarly head injury, but he also avoided arbitration with the Angels, and got his first big MLB payday ($3.2 mil). It's been quite the comeback story, to say the very least, and if you were a screenwriter and wanted to have a perfect ending to this period of Shoemaker's life, you'd have him being the Halos ' opening day starting pitcher.

Well, it looks like that dreamy narrative may become a reality after all.

Our very own Jessica DeLine wrote about this very situation last month, and with this news of Richards' and the rest of the rotation's scheduled starts, it looks like it's coming to fruition.

Matt Shoemaker, The Cobbler, getting an opening day nod is just one of the latest in a string of good news stories surrounding the bearded wonder. What a way to kick off a season!